- "Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race." — James Joyce
- "Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?" — Ulysses Everett McGill
Monthly Archives: September 2010
EARWORM! The 2 Most Misunderstood Pop Songs of the ’90s
Two massive pop hits bookended the summer of 1997 to tell remarkably similar stories, which no one could hear over their hooks. These songs were downers at their core, about bad memories and intoxicant abuse, but we were too busy … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Heroes: Pronounced ‘Koo-KHULL-Lin’
Cú Chulainn was the mythic hero of Ulster, son of a god and a princess, whose exploits were first written down in the 12th to 15th centuries. List now the words of Fiacha mac Firaba, the narrator, as he sings … Continue reading
Posted in Wednesday's Heroes
Tagged mythology, outrageous gaelic foe-fookery, wednesday's heroes
Leave a comment
Steady ‘Hands’
Last night’s episode of “Mad Men,” “Hands and Knees,” was helmed by Seattle director Lynn Shelton. After becoming familiar with Shelton’s pores-and-all approach to achieving intimacy with her subjects, and her dedication to improvising her way to a larger story, … Continue reading
Friday Archives: Young Lincoln in Love
Was Abe Lincoln gay? Who the fuck knows? But a decade ago, in a newspaper article that earned some hate mail, I weighed the evidence and found it wanting. Continue reading
Posted in The Friday Archives
Tagged abraham lincoln, gay or nay?, history, journalism, my back pages
Leave a comment
Wednesday’s Heroes: John D. MacDonald
Creating the title gimmick for a series must be a terrible trap. You start out with something simple like Star Wars and wind up with a labyrinthine word-pummeling like Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace. If you’re John … Continue reading
Alex Cox and the Problem of Patronage
The Renaissance as an art explosion probably needed the Medicis, but does modern film need a similar relationship with the government? Most filmmakers in the U.S. would love a federal sugar daddy, but not for any of the strings attached. … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Heroes: Nina Simone
Because however dour she might have seemed, she could take dreck like the original score from Hair and turn it into a sick jam. Continue reading
Why We Rest
“The total forces of the strikebreakers both government and private were: 1,936 federal troops, 4,000 national guardsmen, about 5,000 extra deputy marshals, 250 extra deputy sheriffs, and the 3,000 policemen in Chicago for a total of 14,186 strikebreakers. In addition … Continue reading
Man’s Life’s a Vapor, and Full of Woes
I propose that if we are attacked again like we were on 9/11 that we respond with neutron bombs to wipe out the entity threatening/attacking us with overwhelming, quick and deadly force. If a country supports attacking us then we … Continue reading
From ‘Going Forward’ To ‘Turn The Page’
In light of the “end” of the war in Iraq, and of the shitty Bob Seger song title that became the pullquote of the moment, I’m dusting off this essay from January 2010. It originally appeared at Threat Quality Press, … Continue reading
Posted in I wlll rant and you will like it
Tagged going forward, iraq, o brother, politics
1 Comment
